If a monopoly supplies a perishable good, such as tickets to a performance, and is unable to price discriminate within a period, the monopoly may benefit from the potential entry of resellers. If the monopoly attempts to intertemporally price discriminate, the equilibrium in the game among buyers is indeterminate when the resellers are not allowed to enter, and the monopoly’s problem is not wel...

Distressed firms are vulnerable to ineffi cient panic-based runs of their workers, suppliers, and customers. A policymaker may try to prevent such a run by pledging to protect the interests of these stakeholders should a firm cease to do business. However, this promise also enables the firm to demand better terms of trade from its stakeholders, which blunts the policy’s effectiveness. We show h...

background: mothers are highly vulnerable to depression within the first year after childbirth. approximately 10-20% of mothers suffer from depression during this period, and half of these women with symptoms of prominent postpartum depression (ppd) remain undiagnosed. the edinburgh postnatal depression scale (epds) is the most widely applied screening instrument for ppd evaluation. in this stu...

This paper explores the incentives of a market leader in undertaking merger and acquisition (M&A) of its bankrupt rival firm under financial crisis in an oligopoly model of vertical product differentiation with heterogeneous consumers. I find that, such an M&A only arises if there are cost cutting benefits; else, the market leader would optimally behave like a natural monopoly. I also find that...

This paper studies how a seller should design its price schedule when consumers’ preferences are subject to temptation. As in Gul and Pesendorfer (2001), consumers exercise costly self-control to some degree and foresee their impulsive behavior and self-control. Since consumers may pay a premium for an option set that is less tempting, the seller may offer multiple small menus. Building on the ...

Background: Mothers are highly vulnerable to depression within the first year after childbirth. Approximately 10-20% of mothers suffer from depression during this period, and half of these women with symptoms of prominent postpartum depression (PPD) remain undiagnosed. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is the most widely applied screening instrument for PPD evaluation. In this stu...

control of poultry feed microbial contamination could reduce carcass contamination at processing plants and resultin improvement of public health. in this study the effects of commercial blend of organic acids (salkil® and formycine®), formalin 37% and formaldehyde gas on morphology of intestinal mucosa and gut microflora in broilers were investigated. three hundreds 1-d-old chicks (ross 308) w...

Casual observation suggests that Internet media firms sometimes allow consumers to pay to remove advertisements from a free advertisement-based product. In this paper I characterize when this business model is optimal and analyze its impact on advertising quantity and the distribution of surplus. The optimality of the business model depends on the relation between product quality, the annoyance...

This paper reviews some recent developments in digital currency, focusing on platform-sponsored currencies such as Facebook Credits. In a model of platform management, we find that it will not likely be profitable for such currencies to expand to become fully convertible competitors to state-sponsored currencies. JEL Classification: D42, E4, L51 Bank Classification: bank notes, economic models,...

The paper assesses the welfare effects of different ways of allocating input price risk between a regulated utility, consumers and speculators in a futures market. A risk-averse utility setting a fixed retail price requires a price that exceeds expected marginal cost, unless an efficient futures market is available. The firm bears no risk when input price risk is transferred to consumers, but c...